A group of over 20 NGOs coordinated by ShareAction through the European Responsible Investment Network (ERIN), has published a manifesto for the EU elections calling on policymakers to make sustainable finance a top priority of the 2024-2029 EU agenda.

The new Commission appointed for 2024 until 2029 will have the last opportunity to take action and bring forward legislation to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy and meet crucial 2030 targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

Maria van der Heide, Head of EU Policy at ShareAction, said: “Banks, insurance companies, and investors continue to finance activities that deepen the climate crisis, violate human rights, and harm nature. Although EU institutions and governments have introduced some sustainable finance regulation in recent years, it falls short of what is needed to support businesses to transition to a sustainable economy and protect people and planet. We need to see bold action from EU policymakers to ensure that the financial sector powers solutions, not problems.”

The NGOs’ key sustainable finance policy recommendations for the next European Commission include expanding the current taxonomy framework to accelerate investments in Europe’s inclusive transition to a zero-carbon economy, ensure that the risks of harmful investments are accounted for and bring an end to green and social washing with a minimum mandatory criterion for what constitutes a sustainable investment product.

The NGOs say that introducing these measures, and others set out in Financing the Future We Want: Our agenda for a sustainable and inclusive EU financial sector, will push the financial sector to reorient its investments in the right direction and tackle climate change instead of fuelling it.

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